Name ______________________________ Class ___________________ Date __________________
Skills Worksheet
Math Skills - CB
Velocity
After you study each sample problem and solution, work out the practice
problems on a separate sheet of paper. Write your answers in the spaces
provided.
PROBLEM
Polar bears are extremely good swimmers and can travel as long as 10 hours
without resting. If a polar bear is swimming at an average speed of 2.6 m/s, how
far will it have traveled after 10.0 hours?
SOLUTION
Step 1: List the given and the unknown values.
Given: speed, v = 2.6 m/s
time, t = 10.0 h  3,600 s/h = 3.6 104 s
Unknown: distance, d = ? m
Step 2: Rearrange the speed equation to solve for distance.
d = vt
Step 3: Insert the known values into the equation, and solve.
PRACTICE
1. Suppose the polar bear was running on land instead of swimming. If the polar
bear runs at a speed of about 8.3 m/s, how far will it travel in 10.0 hours?
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2. Like the polar bear, the walrus is a strong swimmer, although it does not have
the same endurance. For short periods of time, a walrus can swim at an
average speed of 9.7 m/s. How far would a walrus swim at this speed in 3.4
minutes?
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Original content Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Holt Science Spectrum
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Motion
Name ______________________________ Class ___________________ Date __________________
Math Skills continued
3. The maximum posted speed limit on the U.S. Interstate Highway System is
found in rural areas of several western states. This maximum speed is 75 mi/h,
or 121 km/h. What is the distance, in kilometers, that a car a travels if it moves
continuously at this speed for 3 hours and 20 minutes, (3.33 hrs)?
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4. For normal situations, the minimum speed limit throughout the U.S. Interstate
Highway System is 45 mi/h, or 72 km/h. How far, in kilometers, will a car
travel if it moves continuously at this speed for 3 hours and 20 minutes?
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PROBLEM
A baseball is pitched at a speed of 35.0 m/s. How long does it take the ball to
travel 18.4 m from the pitcher’s mound to home plate?
SOLUTION
Step 1: List the given and the unknown values.
Given: speed, v = 35.0 m/s
distance, d = 18.4 m
Unknown: time, t = ? s
Step 2: Rearrange the speed equation to solve for time.
Step 3: Insert the known values into the equation, and solve.
PRACTICE
5. Various types of tree sloths share the honor of being the slowest-moving
mammals. An average tree sloth moves at a speed of 0.743 m/s. How long
does it take a sloth moving at this speed to travel 22.30 m?
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6. The longest stretch of straight railroad tracks lies across the desolate Nullarbor
Plain, between the Australian cities of Adelaide and Perth. The tracks extend a
distance of 478 km without a curve. How long would it take a train, moving at
a constant speed of 97 km/h, to travel this length of track?
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Original content Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Holt Science Spectrum
64
Motion
Name ______________________________ Class ___________________ Date __________________
Math Skills continued
7. The Concorde is the fastest supersonic passenger jet. How long would the
Concorde take to travel 6,265 km between New York City and London,
assuming that the jet travels at its maximum speed of 2.150  103 km/h (2150
km/hr) during the entire trip?
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8. The longest distance in a track-and-field event is the 10 km run. The record
holder for the women’s 10 km run is Wang Junxia of China. Assuming that
she ran 10.00 km (10,000m) at an average speed of 5.644 m/s, what was her
time?
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PROBLEM
Florence Griffith-Joyner set the women’s world record for running the 200.0 m
race in 1988. At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, she
completed the distance in 21.34 s. What was Griffith-Joyner’s average speed?
SOLUTION
Step 1: List the given and the unknown values.
Given: distance, d = 200.0 m
time, t = 21.34 s
Unknown: speed, v = ? m/s
Step 2: Write out the equation for speed.
speed 
distance
v
time
d
t
Step 3: Insert the known values into the speed equation, and solve.

PRACTICE
9. The cheetah, the fastest of land animals, can run 274 m in 8.65 s at its top
speed. What is the cheetah’s top speed?
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10. In 1985, Matt Biondi set a record for the men’s 100 m freestyle event in
swimming. He took 49.17 s to swim the 50.0-m length of the pool and swim
back. Assume that half of Biondi’s record time was spent traveling the length
of the pool. What was his speed?
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Original content Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Holt Science Spectrum
65
Motion
Name ______________________________ Class ___________________ Date __________________
Math Skills continued
11. The fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an ocean liner was made on
July 7, 1952. The ship, the SS United States, traveled 4,727 km east by
northeast in 3 days, 10 hours, and 40 minutes. Assume that the ship had
traveled the same speed, but directly east. What would the velocity of the
SS United States be in kilometers per hour?
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12. The bird that migrates the farthest is the Arctic tern. Each year, the Arctic tern
travels 32,000 km between the Arctic Ocean and the continent of Antarctica.
Most of the migration takes place within two four-month periods each year.
Assume that an Arctic tern completes the second half of its annual migration
distance in 122 days. Also assume that during this time the tern flies directly
north. If the tern flies the same distance each day, what is its velocity in
kilometers per day?
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MIXED PRACTICE
13. The typical snail doesn’t cover very much ground even when it is moving at its
maximum speed, which is 5.0  10-2 m/h. How far will a snail travel if it
moves at its top speed for 45 minutes?
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14. Motion pictures typically are filmed and shown at a speed of 24 frames per
second, where a frame is a single photographic image in the film. A motionpicture camera that moves the film at 2.4  105 frames per second is used in
high-speed photography. When the film is shown again at 24 frames per
second, the filmed object seems to move very slowly. This technique is used to
analyze the motion of objects, like bullets, that move too quickly to be
observed by the human eye. If a frame of 16-mm film is 0.75 cm in length,
how fast does the film move through the high-speed camera when the film is
being exposed?
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15. In 1926, Gertrude Ederle was the first American woman to swim across the
English Channel. At that time, she set the world record for crossing the
channel with an average speed of 0.725 m/s. Assuming that the distance Ederle
swam was 37.9 km (the shortest distance between England and France), how
long did it take her to swim the channel?
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16. Bonnie Blair set the world record for women’s speed skating in 1995 with an
average speed of 12.9 m/s. How far would Blair have traveled at this speed in
5.00 minutes?
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Original content Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Holt Science Spectrum
66
Motion
Name ______________________________ Class ___________________ Date __________________
Math Skills continued
17. Although they seem to remain unchanged, many mountains undergo steady
growth. If erosion and weathering are ignored, some mountains, like the San
Gabriels in southern California, grow as much as 1.0 cm in a year. If a year is
considered to be exactly 365 days, what is the speed at which the San Gabriel
Mountains grow in kilometers per hour?
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18. The Trans-Siberian Railroad is the longest single railroad in the world.
Starting in Moscow, the tracks stretch 9,354 km across the Siberian frontier to
Vladivostok, located at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. If you were to leave
Moscow and travel on the railroad at an average speed of 90.0 km/h, how long
would it take for you to reach Vladivostok?
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19. The largest sheep and cattle ranches in the world are in Australia. Because
some of these ranches are as large in area as Connecticut, the fences needed to
protect the livestock from dingos and other predators are extensive. The
world’s longest “dingo-proof” fence is 5,530 km long. Suppose you were to
travel around this fence in a car at an average speed of 45 km/h. How long
would it take you to return to your starting point?
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20. Stars do not appear to move because they are so far away. In truth, stars
actually move at fairly high speeds. Consider the relatively close star Sirius,
which is moving away from our solar system at a speed of about 17.8 km/s.
How far will this star travel in 2,590 years, the time it takes for Sirius to move
1º across the sky?
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Original content Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Holt Science Spectrum
67
Motion